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A University In 1693: New Light On William & Mary's Claim To The Title "Oldest University In The United States", Thomas J. Mcsweeney, Katharine Ello, Elsbeth O'Brien

William & Mary Law Review Online

William & Mary has traditionally dated its transformation from a college into a university to a set of reforms of December 4, 1779. On that date, Thomas Jefferson and his fellow members of the Board of Visitors reorganized William & Mary, eliminating the grammar school and the two chairs in divinity and creating chairs in law, modern languages, and medicine.Five days after the reforms were adopted, a William & Mary student wrote that “William & Mary has undergone a very considerable Revolution; the Visitors met on the 4th Instant and form’d it into a University....” Just over three years later, …

Home, Schooling, And State: Education In, And For, A Diverse Democracy, Vivian E. Hamilton

Faculty Publications

Since the late nineteenth century, virtually all school-aged children have attended school; only rarely did children live and learn entirely within their homes. In recent decades, however, the practice of elective homeschooling has emerged, and the number of families opting out of regular schools has surged. Currently, the parents of nearly two million school-aged children annually eschew traditional schooling.

A small but well-resourced homeschool lobby has aggressively pressured state legislators to withdraw state oversight of homeschooling. No similarly resourced lobby exists to counterbalance these efforts. As a result, states now impose few—and in some cases, no—obligations on parents who choose …